Over the past couple of decades, there has been an increasing number of Indians migrating to the rich countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Since the turn of the century, the number of migrant Indians to these countries has increased to more than double its amount at the beginning of the century.

Recently, the OECD International Migration Outlook 2018 published the rankings of countries which had the most migrants to OECD countries in 2016.

Among these countries, India ranked fourth on the list. China was the first country on the list. Over half a million people migrated from China to an OECD country in 2016.

Romania ranked second on the list, and Syria ranked third. India ranked fourth with 271,503 migrants to OECD countries.

This number grew significantly over the past decade and a half, since only 113,082 migrants went to OECD countries in 2000. Not only has the number of Indian migrants grown, but so has the diversity of their destinations.

Back in the early 2000s, most Indian migrants moved to the United States and the United Kingdom. However, today, they are choosing to migrate to many other countries.

The percentage of Indian migrants going to the United States and the United Kingdom has fallen to 37% in recent years.

Now, other nations are receiving more Indian migrants, such as Germany and Australia. In 2016, more migrants came to Australia from India than from any other country.

Overall, the total percentage of the top five destination countries has declined between 2000 and 2016. Canada, Australia, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom only made up 75% of Indian migrants’ choice destinations in 2016.

In 2000, Indian migrants had accounted for 2.9% of all migrants going to OECD countries.

In 2016, this number had risen to 3.8%. All in all, these results show people’s increasing desire to go out and live life in the wider world, but it also shows Indians’ confidence to branch out and explore places in the world that are lesser-known.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash (Free for commercial use)

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